Those burning piles of leaves

I've done my share of road trips, and I've seen my share of people burning leaves and trash outside their homes. It never seems like a good idea. I always wondered if anyone got hurt doing that. Well ...

Link: "Woman Fell Into Leaf Fire, Died" 10News.com (Jan 9, 2008): an 84-year-old woman is found dead in her leaf fire, probably slipped and fell down an embankment into the fire. No foul play suspected.

Video Link: Here's the story on WHIOTV.com. A Google search will show this story on 20 or 30 other news sites. Sometimes, the smallest news becomes big news. It's nice to know small tragedies can still be noticed.

I suspect I will find similar stories, if I search enough. However, an inspired set of search terms came up with the perfect companion piece:

Link: My Mortimer died by leaf fire.: Ahem. Apparently, the Sims (the game) simulates things so well ... here's a post about a guy whose sim died in a leaf fire while working in the garden! Pictures and all. The very first response is from a fellow player who says, "I had a serious garden fire too, but no one died there."

This beautiful convergence has been brought to you by our search-engine-driven bizarro world. ;-)